I was lucky enough to get together with a few friends (John K1JSM, and Willy W1LY) today for a Parks On The Air (POTA) activation of Brenton Point State Park K-2870.
John and Willy are avid activators, usually islands, but have changed to parks on the air, so they have a lot of experience and have tried several different antennas. Today we were using a Yaesu FT-897 with a PAR End-Fedz end-fed half-wave on 20 meters, and it seemed to work exceptionally well. Willy and John did their activations on SSB, but I gave things a try on 14.060 CW. I was amazed at the EU propagation. Within 20 minutes I had worked 12 stations.
My thanks to DL4EAM, EA1ASG, F1BLL, IK2YGZ, IK4DRY, IW2NXI, N5PU, ON4VT, PA1H, SP1JQJ, UA6FZ, and VE4AKI for being on the other end.
FYI: My Location was Brenton Point State Park, grid FN41hk, 41.451094N and 71.351883W
Bob WB4SON at the CW Key
RBN indicated great S/N levels
Willy at the mic, John on the right. Pretty spot! You can see the mast holding up the high end of the end-fed antenna by the park sign
The sky was dramatic for sure, but it was in the 60s with light 5 knot winds from the WSW
